Christmas lights blink to rhythm of music

Saturday

Dec 1, 2012 at 12:16 PM

Lois Westermeyer

There’s a modest home located on the northwest corner of Walnut and Howard streets that has a lot of pretty Christmas lights. There’s nothing unusual about that. But passersby who pause to look may notice the lights are not blinking gently on and off, but more in a rhythmic frenzy.That’s because resident Matt Simkulet has more than 4,000 lights synchronized to a set of seven songs and they blink to the rhythm of the music. Tune in to FM 88.3 and you can hear the music while watching the light show.Matt and his wife, Katie, and two sons, Jacob, 3 and Greyson, 1, have lived at 401 W. Walnut St. for seven months, after moving from Bloomington.“There are quite a few bigger homes in Bloomington that have this type of computer program and it’s something I’ve really liked. When we moved here, I thought this is something we could handle, because it’s on a smaller scale,” he said.Simkulet purchased a Light-O-Rama kit, which contains hardware and software for controlling lighting effects and setting it to music.He bought the kit in plenty of time for a Christmas display, but then with child-like excitement he couldn’t wait that long.“I had to try it out, so I decided to do the lights for Halloween,” he said with a grin.Unbeknownst to his wife, Simkulet would go down to his basement and work on plugging in the thousands of lights into the corrugated plastic pumpkins he purchased.“He was coming up late to bed and when I asked what he was doing, he’d say, ‘Oh, I was watching a movie.’ He finally called us down to the basement and we were really surprised,” Katie Simkulet added.They moved the display outside, along with a lighted sign telling passersby what station to tune in and a boom box outside as the mild weather meant several gazers were pedestrians.“It’s been so nice lately, I’m thinking we may put the boom box outside again,” Katie Simkulet said.Because putting the lights into the pumpkins was so time-consuming, Simkulet left those lights there and purchased new sets for the current display. The lights, all 16 sets, are run into a control box, which is then hooked up to the computer software program. The control box, itself, looks like something out of National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation,” with a big bunch of wires plugged into it.“You just have to watch where you’re walking,” he said with a grin.The light strings run along the front eave of the house, around a big picture window, two smaller windows, the door and along the edges of the sidewalk. There are also sets in two smaller trees, two bushes and two corrugated plastic Christmas trees.“It took a couple of days to get the lights on the house, but it wasn’t too bad,” he said.“It’s pretty neat, really,” he added. “There are currently seven songs, including two from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which everybody seems to love. I plan to add a few more songs throughout the season,” he added.While everyone else is watching the lights, the Simkulets are getting a kick out of watching traffic flow by their house.“There’s usually a good flow of traffic,” Katie Simkulet said. “And we like that we’re making the area a little more festive.”Her husband said he is already planning displays for next year and is hoping to make the Light Up parade with an entry. He’s also thinking about branching into holidays other than Halloween and Christmas where light decorations would be fitting.“I don’t know, maybe Fourth of July,” he says, smiling at his wife.The display is on a timer and runs from 4:30 to 9 p.m. each night.For those who cannot visit the display, a videotape of the lights will be put on the Daily Leader’s website, www.pontiacdailyleader.com.